Can British basketball win gold in Berlin?
The Special Olympics World Games take place on 17-25 June
“Every GB cycle is different. Each team is different and creates different experiences. But no matter how many times you walk into that opening ceremony, you still get that feeling of ‘wow’ and a sense of pride, especially for these athletes – it’s hard not to get swept up in all those emotions.”
This was Britain coach Jazz Owen, talking about the Great Britain squad that will compete at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin this week.
The team is made up of captain Fatima Omarji, Ella Crawley, Grace Colverd, Julie Freestone and Sophie Widdowson. They will be part of the 7,000-strong group of athletes from 170 countries to compete in the Women’s 3x3 category, which is a new discipline for the World Games this year.
Owen spoke at the launch of the Champions movie in Manchester, hosted by Basketball England in March. She explained the challenges of teaching 5v5 players the new discipline, and said: “It is hard for any athlete to get their head around the two different styles of play and they’re taking to it well. There are also rule changes for the Special Olympics, so we have some rule adaptations to take into account processing time, so it’s not just 3x3 rules.
“Training is very similar to any other basketball training session. We’ve got to take into account that our athletes have intellectual disabilities, and that involve be breaking drills down into smaller steps or slowing things down from physical cues. Every team is going to be different, but with this group of GB athletes, they’re working really well as a team.”
The movie launch gave the Special Olympics athletes the chance to be inspired by England’s 3x3 gold medallist from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year, Jamell Anderson.
Owen will work alongside head coach Jacob Meaton, who runs the community interest company Disability Opportunities in Sport, which covers multiple sports, including basketball. He explained how there’s more to the game than just going through a pathway of local training, to a regional then national level if you want to compete on the World Games stage.
Meaton said: “The girls go through an application process. The head office for the Special Olympics does a great job of pulling it all together, because it’s not just basketball, it’s all sports. They look through those applications to make sure everyone has done each level of competition to ensure they are eligible and suitable for selection, then we select a team based on this.”
All this has had to be done in a quicker time frame than usual. The selections typically take place over a two-year cycle, but there were delays due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic during this cycle. But it’s still important for the team’s wellbeing to go through each stage properly.
Owen explained: “One of the athletes has never been abroad before, so when we go out we need to look at the cultural element of it. When we go out, we get three or four days in a host town and we experience German culture and food. It also gets us acclimated to the weather – for some of these girls, playing outside will be completely new. There’s lots of elements like this to look at, and because of the demand it puts on our athletes, we are looking after their wellbeing and enjoyment before we look at medals and participation outcomes. But they are very driven and we want to come home with a medal.”
Winning it all would help raise the profile of disability sport in the UK, especially with the Activity Alliance recently highlighting how 60% of disabled people feel the rising cost of living stopping them from socialising, with 37% saying they are less active.
Sport in the UK has typically been rewarded with funding when it is successful at international events. And at the launch of Champions, campaigner and the winner of Channel 4’s Make Me Prime Minister Natalie Balmain said: “Having basketball in my life gave me access to my first group of friends. It was the first shared interest and something I had in common with people that gave me a community and made me feel accepted… My disability was not an issue when it came to basketball, because basketball is what connected us.”
There is more to the Special Olympics than winning, especially with the Special Olympics ethos: ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in my attempt’.
This is something Owen and the team are taking to heart, and she said: “It encompasses everything we do. Obviously we want to go out there and win a gold medal, it’s a huge opportunity.”
The Special Olympics will take place on 17-25 June. You can watch games live for free on ESPN Player by clicking here, and BBC Sport will be airing highlights.